Posted on 05/11/2014 12:12:47 PM PDT by lbryce
It is, if you except the powers of human memory, the closest thing we have to a time machine.
Scientists have created the first realistic model of the universe, capable of recreating 13 billion years of cosmic evolution. The simulation is called “Illustris,” and it renders the universe as a cube (350 million light-years on each side) with, its creators say, unprecedented resolution: The virtual universe uses 12 billion 3-D “pixels,” or resolution elements, to create its rendering. And that rendering includes both normal matter and dark matter.
The rendering, importantly, also includes elliptical and spiral galaxies—bodies that, because of numerical inaccuracies and incomplete physical models, we'd been unable to see with such detail in previous simulations of the universe. It also does a better job than previous renderings of modeling the feedback from star formation, supernova explosions, and supermassive black holes.
YouTube:Illustris Simulation: Most detailed simulation of our Universe
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
yeah, those are the time holes
They are phrases used to avoid the fact that the standard cosmological models don't conform to the actual data.
Some would call that response cynical. Not me, but some would.
"Those who have the power of accurate observation are often called cynical by those who don't have it."---George Bernard Shaw
By the way, since they don't know what it is, how do they map it? I envision it kind of like those 15th century maps of the new world with dragons and mermaids drawn all over the place.
Yeah, cool. Aren’t they where the TARDIS goes?
It may seem you are being overwhelmingly sarcastic but there are those who believe our universe may be a hologram of sorts, an illusion is another hypothesis, an illusion of our very own existence, consciousness, self-awareness has also been suggested. It seems that life, our very selves runs more far afield from reality than we could ever imagine, like some Obama supporter.
Viewed as a whole it doesn’t appear to be expanding from a central point. What it does look similar to though is a neural net.
I tend to think something in the nature of expansion has to exist, to accommodate the travel of light.
Still the question remains, could the universe exist without invoking the unknown properties of “Dark energy/Matter” ?
If the answer is yes, then why are we wasting/exploring models that can’t be proven ?
If the answer is NO, then how is it that we know anything ?
What other “Dark” properties will we assume and why ?
IMHO, science has transitioned from empiricism to pure speculation. It is the popular acceptance of this speculation that is destroying the foundations of belief.
Because we can observe the red-shifts of distant galaxies. The red-shifts are non-linear as a function of distance. The expansion should be flat (universe is infinite) or slowing down (gravity is slowing the expansion, possibly causing a re-collapse). But instead the father away the galaxies are, not only are they not slowing down, they are moving *faster* (the 1st derivative of motion -- rate of change of position if increasing over time is increasing), and in fact they are even accelerating as they go (the 2nd derivative -- rate of change of velocity is also increasing).
It's totally bizarre. Nothing in current cosmological models can explain it. Gravity just doesn't work that way. So physicists call it 'dark' (meaning unknown).
Behold the void, it is not
the void of nothingness
but thine own intellect,
unobstructed , blissful and shining.
Buddhist prayer.
“...if you EXCEPT the powers of human memory...”
Does she mean to remove the powers of human memory from the theory?
Does it have a hockey stick?
Do not cross the outside boundary of this map as you will encounter an unknown zone and the bent coin return will fail at all costs! Hal. Hal? HAL!
It has often been said that most battles are fought
where two maps join.
With respect, I think that DE, DM, and the UDF, when taken together, are actually pretty good arguments for a designed universe.
The UDF especially. Atheists cannot invoke the Anthropic Principle on that one. (AP is their fallback position when cornered about how improbable life is.)
There is simply no way we ought to be able to see so much cool structure at billion light-year distances like this. Not by chance. And AP can't explain away that one because life can exist just fine on Earth without it.
and this guy...I agree.
We are coming full circle here and there are those in the “popular” science that are refusing to recognize this.
Do you think DE/DM will or can ever be more than an assumption ?
Discovered ?
Detected ?
Measured ?
You know, basic science.
Interesting times.
I can’t decide if FreeRepublic is getting more pro-science or less
Do you see those positions, (pro-science or less), as being mutually exclusive ?
My personal opinion is that DM/DE are God’s hacks to make the universe work right.
I use ‘hack’ in this sense: Not an error or a mistake, but a necessary special modification to make it all work properly. For example, the kludgy van der Waals force is a hack to support life: to make proteins fold right and ice float in water. (Water is really *weird* at the atomic level.)
To further clarify, as a Christian I believe that Christ is also one of God’s hacks: that Jesus is a unique modification, that He is a special exception, in order to fulfill God’s plan for us, to reconcile us with Him.
There’s nothing wrong with any these hacks. It doesn’t impugn anything negative on His character at all. If anything, it just makes it all the more wonderful.
BTTT
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